Demand for Turkish producers' hot rolled coil (HRC) products in their domestic market has remained low for the second consecutive week. Although demand had seen a slight improvement after Ramadan, due to the coup attempt in Turkey on the night of July 15 and given the ongoing political tension in the country, transaction activity in the local Turkish HRC market has been stagnant in the current week. Meanwhile, buyers in the market have been postponing their purchases of HRC from producers since the Turkish lira has lost significant strength against the US dollar. As a result, Turkish HRC producers have reduced their prices for the local market by $30/mt week on week to $400-430/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, demand has also remained slack in the local Turkish HRC spot market, with buyers only concluding purchases in line with their needs. The declines seen in Turkish HRC producers' quotations have not yet been reflected in spot HRC quotations and so HRC prices given by traders have remained unchanged week on week.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product | Price ($/mt) | |
Eregli | Gebze | |
2-12 mm HRC | 440-460 | 450-470 |
1.5 mm HRS | 480-500 | 495-515 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) | 420-430 | |
3-12 mm HR P&O | 480-500 | 500-530 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.